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About Michael J. Miller

Miller, who was editor-in-chief of PC Magazine from 1991 to 2005, authors this blog for PC Magazine to share his thoughts on PC-related products. No investment advice is offered in this blog. All duties are disclaimed. Miller works separately for a private investment firm which may at any time invest in companies whose products are discussed in this blog, and no disclosure of securities transactions will be made.

Why Hybrids or "Two-in-Ones" Don't Make The Cut (Yet)

Is it a tablet or a notebook? Does being a bit of both make hybrids—or as Intel has come to call them "two-in-ones"—devices that are neither great tablets nor great notebooks? That's a question I've been pondering as I've been looking at some hybrids recently, and also spent time with a Microsoft Surface Pro.

I've been intrigued by the concept of hybrid computers for a long time. Last year I said it looked like we were in for "the year of the hybrid," driven by some cool new designs, the touch-screen-centric Windows 8, devices that convert between PC and tablet modes, and by new processors from Intel and AMD that supposedly could enable all-day tablet life. The devices that shipped—such as the Lenovo Ideapad—were interesting, but nothing seems to have really hit a chord with the market.

There does still seem to be a (small) market for what used to be called "tablet PCs," essentially laptops where the screens flip over for tablet use, mostly used in fairly vertical applications. Such machines date back more than a decade and there remain some pretty good examples, including the Lenovo X230t. For small business the best alternative may be the ThinkPad Twist, which I still like. But the idea that hybrids would become mainstream has certainly not been supported by sales to date.

As I've been using a Microsoft Surface Pro, the strengths and weaknesses of the hybrid model have become clear. The basic machine is certainly plenty powerful for a traditional notebook, and more than you'll find in most tablets: it runs Windows 8 with an Intel Core i5, 4GB of RAM, 128GB SSD, and a 10.6-inch 1,920-by-1,080 touch-screen display. The screen is a little small for a full notebook these days—even most Ultrabooks have 11.6- or 13-inch displays—but certainly good enough. And because it runs full Windows (not Windows RT like its smaller brother the Surface RT), it will run just about any business application you can throw at it. Yet like most people, when I actually use the machine I'm a little disappointed.

As a notebook, you can attach two keyboards that double as screen covers—the very thin "touch cover," which is quite flat with a pressure sensitive keyboard; and the somewhat thicker "type cover," which isn't quite as slim but offers a more traditional keyboard where each key does have some "travel" when you push down on it. The concept is great, but the reality falls far short of what I need. Because I do a lot of writing on my notebooks, both email and longer pieces such as this one, I need good keyboards. The touch cover is a complete disaster. While I have been able to write stories on it, my fingers ache after a few minutes. Admittedly the type cover is notably better, but still, just thinking about having to write this post on it made me yearn for a real notebook.

The Surface Pro and Surface RT each have a kickstand, so the screen sits up properly on a desk with the keyboard attached, but neither balances well enough to use it on your lap. As someone who has a train commute (with no seat-back tables) that's another notable negative for me.

As a Windows tablet the Surface Pro is certainly fast, and offers a lot of little options many tablets don't, such as a full-size USB port, microSD card slot, and a mini-DisplayPort AV adapter. (I would have preferred a full size SD card and an HDMI port, but these are fine). But at half an inch thick and a two pound weight, it's definitely harder to hold when reading for a long time than an iPad or almost any Android tablet.

More importantly, while there's an amazing breadth of desktop apps, the vast majority of them aren't designed for touch input. The number of native Windows 8 "modern" apps is fairly small—a lot of the apps I would want to use in tablet mode just aren't available, such as Fandango or Yelp. There are some good Windows 8 tablet apps, but not enough of them.

A colleague of mine has spent a lot of time with the Dell XPS 12 and its cool hinge that flips the screen over, and he has much the same reaction to the Surface Pro. It's a solid laptop and the ability to also use it as a tablet is attractive, but as a tablet it's just too big and heavy, and the Windows Store doesn't have enough key applications.

Over time, some of this is likely to change. Intel's Atom hardware runs a variety of Windows tablets today; it's due for an imminent refresh (known as Bay Trail) that could make it fast enough for notebook performance. And the recent Haswell generation is supposed to enable fanless designs, raising the ability to make a thinner, lighter tablet with a Core processor. Any design with a hinge will always add weight and thickness though.

Still, the big question is getting the right Windows 8 applications designed for a touch screen. That means Microsoft Office of course, but also a long list of third-party applications. Without the right apps, it's hard to see who will really benefit from two-in-one designs.

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